Welsh Language Standards & bilingual labelling

Welsh and English are equal in Wales under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, with the Welsh Language Commissioner enforcing Welsh Language Standards binding on public bodies (Welsh Government, NHS Wales, local authorities, education, certain regulated industries). For commercial brand-owners, Welsh on pack arises through three channels rather than a single labelling mandate. Channel 1 — direct statutory: Food Information (Wales) Regulations 2014 mirror UK FIR requiring English mandatory information and permitting Welsh in addition; Natasha's Law PPDS allergen labelling in Wales requires Welsh where the food business operates a Welsh-language service; UK CLP, cosmetics, medicines patient-information leaflet law requires English mandatory with Welsh permitted in addition. Channel 2 — public-sector procurement: Welsh Government, NHS Wales, and Welsh local authorities flow Welsh Language Standards obligations to suppliers via contract requirements (bilingual labels, bilingual customer-facing communications, bilingual safety information). Channel 3 — retailer own-brand policy: major UK retailers operating in Wales (Co-op longest-standing, Tesco, Sainsbury's for Welsh-heritage SKUs) impose bilingual on-pack product name, short descriptor, recycling/disposal pictograms, and customer-service panel for own-brand lines distributed to Welsh stores; retailer language QC reviews artwork before pre-press release. Translation quality control — Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru (CCC) full membership is the assurance benchmark; documented house-style glossary for allergen names, units of measure, customer-service formulae, mutated word forms; machine translation rejected by retailer QC and Welsh Government procurement audit. Common pitfalls — literal English-to-Welsh translation reading as wooden Welsh, mutated word forms applied incorrectly, inconsistent allergen forms (cnau / cnau coed for nuts/tree nuts), units of measure not localised. Practical scope for UK brand-owners: own-brand SKUs distributed to Wales-trading retailers; NHS Wales medicines; Welsh public-sector contracts; chemical products supplied to Welsh public sector. Scottish Gaelic and Irish (under Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022) have narrower commercial application.